General Rules

These are the general rules for what images you can upload to Elftown and display in your house.

1. Images and text in your house must not be copyrighted unless you have explicit permission to use it.* In the case of text, quotes are fine as long as they are properly attributed to the original author. It is never allowed to take someone else's work in any medium and claim it as your own.

* This means you may take a photo of a copyrighted sculpture, for example, and that would be fine, because your photo is not copyrighted.

Note that:
- Taking a copyrighted image and editing it does not make it your own. Photomanipulations are allowed, but please use only designated stock images for such purposes and follow the rules of the stock-artist whose stock you are using.
- All images within a collage must also comply with this rule.

2. Pornographic images and images depicting extreme violence are not allowed in your house. Almost nude and nude images of minors and pictures of self mutilation are not allowed anywhere on Elftown.
Non-pornographic nudity is allowed provided no minors are involved. Elftown is a site for all ages, so keep it tasteful. You can request Artistic Nudity Warnings if you want to post nudity in your house.Note: "Nudity" is defined as displayed genitals or a female breast where you can see the nipple. Extremely sexually suggestive looking photos are also considered "nude" even if there is no actual nudity shown in the image.

3. Quiz images are not allowed. This is because quiz creators often used copyrighted images they do not have permission to use. Quiz result images can be removed by the guards without warning.

4. You may only display one image in your mood and it must to be uploaded to the moods: you may not inline images in your mood.

Content on the Wiki

Images
The rules for images in your house don't all apply for the wiki. If it is a secret wiki-page (password/forum membership to view), you can inline (do not upload it to Elftown directly) nearly anything you want. But extremely graphic violence, nudity involving minors and things such as revenge porn are not allowed anywhere.

And of course, you are NEVER allowed to steal work (as in, taking someone else's drawing or story and claiming it as your own).

Note: It's not allowed to use Elftown features, house or wiki, to upload material that doesn't belong to you. When you inline such material in the wiki or forum, use a different server to upload it to.

How the Rules are Enforced

The Uploading Art Rules are enforced by the Town Guards, who can remove art that violates the rules and ban members who repeatedly upload or display art that violates the rules.

The Patrollers help the guards by finding and reporting art that is against the rules. This possibility is however not restricted only to Patrollers. In fact, everyone is encouraged to report rule violators.

If you find someone violating the rules, please use the "send report to guards" button at the top of that member's house and the guards will look into the matter. It is not possible for the Guards to keep an eye on each and every house and we certainly need your help in this. See the wiki page reports on how to write a good report.

Sometimes mistakes are made and the guards delete something that should have been allowed. We're really sorry! Please send a polite reply to the guard who deleted your material (you'll have a message from them explaining why it was deleted) and explain briefly why it should be allowed/what we got wrong. If you still think you're being treated unfairly, then contact the town Guard captain.

More on Copyright

First, a note on spelling. It's spelled "copyright", not "copywrite", and it's "copyrighted", not "copywritten". Copyright is about owning the right to copy something and controlling who is allowed to copy it. A copywriter is someone who works in advertising.

She is beautiful and stirs slightly; the curves of her body would drive any male elf or human towards complete desire. Her face is picture perfect for any artist. Ranadar often called a miracle child was born late in her mother’s age. At a time when few Elven children are born, Ranadar came to the Royal Elven family. A blessing of sorts, her birth was definitely a miracle since the Elves still seek the Bowl of Duris, the fertility bowl that is one of the missing High Elven Artifacts. Ranadar the Elven princess has once again defied her mother, Queen Aluranz. Ranadar is looking to have a good time even when the Queen is ill and in her twilight years.

A tremendously loud pounding echoes through her head. Weary she lifts her head, but the pounding in her brain doesn’t stop. She slowly takes notice of her surroundings; several empty apricot wine bottle, a spilt bong (smells horrible), some left over greater mushroom, a passed out half-naked man next to her. She wonders if she has lost her virginity…She flips over the covers and notices that he still has his pants on (smiles). Her mother would be proud. It’s been another wild night for the Elven Princess Ranadar. She asks herself, Is it Tat worthy?

Ranadar: Why does my head still pound?

She is hung-over and it takes her a moment to realize that the pounding are the bells of the Elven Queen’s tower. The loud ringing of a bell echoes through the halls of the Queen’s Treehouse and all Sacremena. The bells toll the Song of Mourning. Her beautiful face grimaces when she throws up on the floor of her bedroom. Great timing as the door opens, enter Prince Lotherian her brother.

Ranadar: How dare you enter my chambers, oh its you.

Lotherian: You out of here!

The half-naked male elf clutches his clothes and runs away.

Ranadar: How is mother?

Lotherian: Looks like another rough night princess. She asked you to NOT party your life away last night. You have no respect for anyone.

Ranadar: I have seen worse. Af! Has it really happened?

Lotherian: Yes she isn’t going to yell at you this time. She can’t. There is no one to fight anymore.

Ranadar: You mean the Queen is dead?

Lotherian: Yes you have effectively worried our mother to death. You won!

An Elf can live to 2000 years, in the case of Aluranz she lived 2313 years. With the last 250 years as queen, she had gained the throne though political and witty maneuverings. Aluranz was neither a warrior nor a mage, but one thing that she was always good at was her ability to out political anyone. But not even all the magical power of an Elven Nation could prolong her life further. When an Elf dies of old age, the body collapses and no magic resurrection, reincarnation or raise dead can bring back a wrecked body. Today Aluranz’s rule is at an end.

Ranadar: Lotherian, do you really think that I killed her on purpose?

Lotherian: Only the Gods know for certain. She was quite old, strong willed but quite old even for an Elf. You did wish her dead last week.

Ranadar: That was only because she would not let me party during my coming of Age Ceremony and she would not let me get that tattoo.

Lotherian: A tattoo is to symbolize a great accomplishment in life, not getting drunk.

Ranadar: Mother always kept me from living and having any fun. I just want to have a good time with my friends.

Lotherian: Give it up sister, she is dead now.

Ranadar and her brother both know that without their mother, the rulership of Sacramena is now up for anyone to seize. In the interm the High Elven court would rule, at least until a true hero of the people will rise and lead the Elven nation of Sacramena. A tear wells up in Lotherian’s eye when he thinks of the changes that are to come. He and his sister will lose their privileged lives. The nation of Elflandea is ruled by a queen not a king. And if the queen can not consolidate her power and perform then she is removed. Lotherian needs a strong woman in his life, someone that can seize power or they will lose everything that they had worked so hard for over the last 500 years. Lotherian knows that his sister is too busy partying to understand. His current wife, Alindor is a great dancer and looks beautiful but is not prepared in any way in magic or might, nor does she hold an aptitude for politics or creating wealth. But she is really good at spending money though...

2014-11-02[Kalma]: Can someone tell me to whom I would make an artistic nudity warning banner request?

2015-01-30[Mortified Penguin]: With the amount of art that actually gets uploaded these days, I think it may have actually been better to just keep the rules as they were. Changing things up when there are only like 6 people uploading art will only serve to make things more confusing for them after years of following the unchanged rules and-

2015-01-31[Stephen]: We're trying to follow the hopeful assumption that at least some of the new members who get accepted will stay, and then when they do the rules can be less intimidating. :P

2015-01-31[Paul Doyle]: I'd be all for fewer walls of text, and all for more unrealistic yet alluring images of elven women that are actually created by the people who posted the said imagery ;-)

2015-02-01[Stephen]: What we're aiming for is to make the rules simple, legal and sensible, instead of mostly based on personal opinion and what others find annoying.. :P

2015-10-07[Lothuriel]: I know I am late to the party but, to me that was the perfect beauty of Elftown. Elftown was a place for artists and writers to share their work with less fear of having it stolen and as a place where more genuine art could be appreciated. I understand why you changed the rules but, that makes it no less disappointing. I will not protest nor rant about it so no worries there, I simply felt the need to put in my two cents. It's hard to have put in so much time and dedication to a website like this and see it fail (well, on the verge of failing). I of course did not design nor do I pay to keep ET running but, that doesn't make my love for it any less. I wish I had all of the answers. I wish I could wave a magic wand and take it back to its prime. The simple truth is, there is no easy fix. I miss old school Elftown and as long as it doesn't turn into Elfpack No. 2 or FaceSpace, I will be here until [Elftron] takes her final breath.

2015-11-16[Stephen]: Well, no worries about that, anyway - we don't intend to have Elftown turn into Facebook, Elfpack or any other site. Ideally we'd like to maintain the unique aspect of Elftown while making the site seem inviting. :)

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